#Metoo: Google says company “dead serious” about sexual misconduct, 48 employees sacked for sexual harassment in two years

Google has announced that 48 of its employees have been fired in the past two years for sexual harassment.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google sent an email to its employees assuring them that the company’s policies had become stricter since 2015 and that they are now “dead serious” about sexual misconduct.

Pichai also clarified that 13 of the 48 employees fired by Google were either senior managers or executives and none of them had received exit packages.

The announcement was made after a news report said that Google has, in the past protected some of its male employees despite allegations of sexual misconduct, and offered them huge sums of money to leave the company. This news report focused on Andy Rubin, a former Android executive who was asked to leave but was paid $90 million for doing so. Rubin’s spokesperson however said that he had left on his own and he had not been informed of sexual misconduct allegations.

In his letter, Pichai added that the company’s rules required vice presidents and senior vice presidents to disclose any relationship with an employee whether or not they worked in the same department.

The Silicon Valley has been under criticism for being male and white dominated, under-representing women and brushing aside complaints of sexual harassment. The story should hopefully change now.